Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Xiaomi's Redmi Pro does OLED and dual camera on a budget

Affordable Chinese smartphones are becoming more fun than ever.

Just because Xiaomi is selling Segways,drones,bicyclesandrice cookers these days doesn't mean that it's forgotten what it started off with years ago: mobile phones. Today, the Chinese company announced the Redmi Pro which is the latest smartphone in its entry-level portfolio. As suggested by the name, this Android 6.0 device packs some surprising features that make it stand out from its predecessors: This is the first time that Xiaomi's featuring an OLED display plus a dual-camera setup on a device, which is a surprising move given that these are headed to the affordable Redmi line instead of the flagship Mi line. The price? From 1,499 yuan which is about $225.

Gallery: Xiaomi Redmi Pro hands-on | 4 Photos

The Redmi Pro comes in a gold- or silver-colored brushed metallic unibody -- a real bonus at this price point -- and packs a 5.5-inch 1080p OLED display (with full NTSC gamut), a fingerprint reader plus a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front side. Flip it over and you'll find a Mi 5-like curved back sans glass, along with a dual camera featuring a 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 main sensor plus a 5-megapixel Samsung assistive sensor for bokeh effects. Like many earlier dual-camera phones, here you can change the focus point on the image even after capturing; and there's a dual-tone LED flash, too. There's also a generous 4,050mAh battery inside -- similar to the one in the very recent Redmi 3S -- with fast charging via the USB Type-C port. Likewise, the Redmi Pro has the same IR blaster as the Redmi 3S which lets you control your TV and home appliances.

Given the base price point, it's no surprise that the Redmi Pro is powered by a MediaTek chipset. The base spec starts with the 10-core Helio X20 plus 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM (1,499 yuan/about $225), followed by the faster Helio X25, 64GB of storage plus 3GB of RAM (1,699 yuan/about $255), and capping with the same chipset, 128GB of storage plus 4GB of RAM (1,999 yuan/about $300). As with most Chinese and Indian smartphones these days, the Redmi Pro is a dual-SIM 4G+ device (VoLTE supported), though you can also use the second SIM slot to add a microSD card instead.